Former eThekwini mayor joins MK Party as KwaZulu-Natal deputy convener

Zandile Gumede, the long-standing member of the ANC and former eThekwini mayor, has defected to the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party. 

Gumede was unveiled on Monday during a media briefing held in Durban together with other members who have joined the MK party from other political parties. She was also joined by former eThekwini head of tourism Phillip Sithole among others. 

Gumede was immediately assigned the prominent role of being a deputy convenor. Besides previously serving as mayor, Gumede had also been elected twice as eThekwini regional chairperson. 

“In the MK Party, we are welcoming new members every day unlike other parties. We are welcoming new members because MK is the only alternative voice of the left. This is the only remaining voice of the voiceless in South Africa. We welcome you, Ma; we are giving you a very warm reception because you have unquestionable credentials in the politics of KZN and South Africa. We know you’re coming with a very positive paradigm shift and positive contribution in the MK Party. Let’s join our hands in building this strong ship of the left,” said Mk Party secretary general Sibonelo Nomvalo. 

Gumede, a known loyalist  of former President Jacob Zuma, has been out of domestic politics since her former party, the ANC, ordered her to step down. The ANC invoked the step aside rule after Gumede and several senior officials at the only metro in the province were charged with fraud and money laundering. 

The charges related to the lucrative Durban Solid Waste contract which the state alleges was riddled with corruption. The tender, worth over R300m, to collect refuse in various townships in Durban, is believed to have been used as a gravy train enriching closely connected comrades who had been handpicked. 

The matter is still the subject of the Durban High Court. 

Although it was predicted shortly after the formation of the MK party leading up to the 2024 general elections that Gumede would soon join Zuma in the new fold, she was coy about it. 

Asked during the media briefing as to why she opted for the MK party, Gumede didn’t want to delve deeper, Instead, she said: “I’m very happy for having joined the MK party and how the party has received me.”

It is expected that Gumede, a political powerhouse in eThekwini regional politics, will leverage her popularity and woo those who were perceived as her loyalists in the ANC. These include councillors and other ANC prominent regional leaders. 

The announcement of Gumede also brings to the fore the crucial question of who the MK party is likely to field as its mayoral candidate for the upcoming municipal elections, only three months away. 

The 65-year-old Gumede had made it known in the previous platforms that the radical economic transformation agenda she had strongly pushed for had not been completed when she was abruptly removed as mayor.